PH FOREIGN RESERVES NUMIPIS ($99.8-B noong Hunyo)

BUMAGSAK ang foreign currency reserves ng bansa sa four-month low noong nakaraang buwan, ayon sa Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).

Ito’y dahil sa pag-withdraw ng pamahalaan ng foreign currency deposits nito upang ipambayad sa mga utang.

Sa datos ng central bank, ang gross international reserves (GIR) ng bansa ay nasa $99.8 billion noonh Hunyo, bumaba mula sa $100.6 billion GIR level noong Mayo.

Ito ang pinakamababang GIR level sa loob ng apat na buwan magmula noong Pebrero nang ang reserves level ay bumagsak sa $98.216 billion.

Ang reserve assets na nasa BSP ay kinabibilangan ng foreign investments, gold, foreign exchange, reserve position sa International Monetary Fund, at special drawing rights.

“The month-on-month decrease in the GIR level reflected mainly the national government’s net foreign currency withdrawals from its deposits with the BSP to settle its foreign currency debt obligations and pay for its various expenditures, and downward adjustments in the value of the BSP’s gold holdings due to the decrease in the price of gold in the international market,” sabi ng BSP.

Gayunman, ang latest GIR level ay kumakatawan sa 7.4 buwang halaga ng imports of goods at payments of services and primary income.

“Moreover, it is also about 5.7 times the country’s short-term external debt based on original maturity and 4.1 times based on residual maturity,” ayon pa sa BSP.

Samantala, bumaba ang net international reserves — ang pagkakaiba sa pagitan ng GIR at ng reserve liabilities o short-term foreign debt at credit at loans mula sa IMF —sa $99.8 billion mula $100.6 billion noong Mayo.